This invention relates to two-way communication systems in which the service of sending message to subscribers is paid for by subscribers, and in particular to techniques of controlling the cost of service in such systems
In some types of communication systems, the cost of service for delivering messages to subscribers is paid for by the subscribers, and part of the cost is determined by the number and length of messages. Examples of these types of communication systems are most paging and cellular communication systems. With the advent of information services such as sporting event and stock market reporting services, and new means for other message originators to enter very long paging messages, such as Internet entry, the subscriber service costs have grown and some subscribers would like to control the amount of message information they get, in order to keep the cost of their service down. A technique for controlling the message length of messages transmitted to a subscriber is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,100, entitled xe2x80x9cELECTRONIC MAIL MESSAGE DELIVERY SYSTEM,xe2x80x9d issued to Kane on Jan. 23, 1996, at cols. 7 and 8. This technique provides one method of controlling costs in such systems, but does not, for example protect against increased costs caused by the receipt of many short messages.
Thus what is needed is an improved technique for subscribers that allows cost control by subscribers in two-way communication systems in which subscribers pay for received messages.